Use of Indoor Location Technologies in Healthcare Contexts: A Scoping Review
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- What are the characteristics and methodological approaches of existing research on indoor location technologies in healthcare? Who are the primary authors, and which countries and institutions contribute significantly to this topic?
- Which technologies are predominant, and in which healthcare context are they typically adopted?
- Do published works discuss factors contributing to success or failure? If so, what are these factors?
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Search Strategy
- (Hospitals OR Health Services OR Health Facilities).
- (Patient Identification Systems OR Geographic Information Systems OR Remote Sensing Technology).
- (Workflow OR Process Assessment, Health Care).
2.2. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
2.3. Data Analysis and Extraction
3. Results
3.1. General Characteristics
3.2. Literature Reviews
3.3. Technologies and Workflows
3.4. Gains and Improvements
3.5. Limitations and Risks
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
MeSH | Medical Subject Headings |
References
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Criteria | Inclusion | Exclusion |
---|---|---|
Population (P) | Documents focused on indoor location technologies in healthcare settings that apply the technology to track patients, staff, materials, or equipment | Documents unrelated to healthcare, outdoor location technologies, or those falling outside the predefined scope |
Concept (C) | Documents exploring the application, implementation, challenges, or benefits of indoor RTLS in healthcare, adopting the RTLS concept as proposed by Kamel Boulos et al. [14] | Studies not directly related to indoor location technologies in healthcare settings |
Context (C) | Studies on contextual factors impacting the adoption and effectiveness of indoor location technologies in healthcare, for both patients and materials, using any research methods | Non-healthcare settings, outdoor tracking, lack of description of the adopted technology |
Sources and Study Designs | Peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, reports, and grey literature discussing indoor location technologies in healthcare; qualitative and quantitative studies | Studies lacking relevant data on indoor location technologies in healthcare |
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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Lopes, E.T.; Lopes, D.C.; Pedrozo, G.; Alves, I.O.; Käfer, G.A.; Medeiros, P.H.S.d.; Gonçalves, B.S.; Fernandes, S.E.S.; Lima, R.M. Use of Indoor Location Technologies in Healthcare Contexts: A Scoping Review. Appl. Sci. 2025, 15, 6231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15116231
Lopes ET, Lopes DC, Pedrozo G, Alves IO, Käfer GA, Medeiros PHSd, Gonçalves BS, Fernandes SES, Lima RM. Use of Indoor Location Technologies in Healthcare Contexts: A Scoping Review. Applied Sciences. 2025; 15(11):6231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15116231
Chicago/Turabian StyleLopes, Erik Teixeira, Derek Chaves Lopes, Gustavo Pedrozo, Igor Oliveira Alves, Gustavo Alan Käfer, Pedro Henrique Santos de Medeiros, Bruno S. Gonçalves, Sérgio Eduardo Soares Fernandes, and Rui M. Lima. 2025. "Use of Indoor Location Technologies in Healthcare Contexts: A Scoping Review" Applied Sciences 15, no. 11: 6231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15116231
APA StyleLopes, E. T., Lopes, D. C., Pedrozo, G., Alves, I. O., Käfer, G. A., Medeiros, P. H. S. d., Gonçalves, B. S., Fernandes, S. E. S., & Lima, R. M. (2025). Use of Indoor Location Technologies in Healthcare Contexts: A Scoping Review. Applied Sciences, 15(11), 6231. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15116231